| READING MAINLINE | |
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| Mike Russell's brave try to bring passenger friendly buses with conductors back to the streets of Reading | ||
It all started with Line A in July 1994, and then grew through an alphabet of destinations to reach most parts of the town. But now the sight of Routemasters on the streets of Reading is just a fond memory. The sixth anniversary of the start-up was also to be the last day of operation (Saturday 22nd July 2000), with lines D, E and F being the last to run. Line C had gone in June and line A went back in February.
The very last scheduled Mainline trip was the 6.40 pm departure from Woodley (Clivedale Road) on line F to Reading Station. It left about fifteen minutes late after a lot of photos had been taken and was preceded by two extras. A crowd of about 200 people were waiting at the depot to see Mike Russell drive the last Mainline RM into the garage and the history books.
The last car in was No 36, 735DYE. Special Last Day ride at will tickets had been on sale for £3.50 and all the buses carried "Last Routemaster Week" legends; special blinds, black ribbon on the wing mirrors and grab rails, wreaths on the radiators - these typified the last day.
Eleven Routemasters were still serviceable and the Saturday run out called for seven (three on line D from Purley to Addington Road and four on line E from Calcot to Woodley), and duplicates and extras ran throughout the sad day. But Mainline went out in style and now something is missing from the streets of Reading .........
For four years Reading Mainline operated as an independent concern with a fleet of crew operated Routemaster buses on an expanding network of routes in competition with incumbent Reading Buses. The crew operated Routemasters had a speed advantage over Reading Buses fleet of exclusively one man operated vehicles, but the latter responded with limited stop services on new trunk line A. Progressively Mainline expanded its routes to cover most parts of the town, especially the routes that had once been operated by trolleybuses!
The business philosophy on which Mainline was based was that a crew operated vehicle could operate a faster service stop for stop than a one man vehicle, and with the reduced running times, coupled with passenger friendly buses with conductors, a more productive operation would ensue, needing fewer vehicles (and thus crews) overall. The increase in productivity would offset the cost of the second wage for the man on the back. Routemasters could also penetrate further into housing estates, into "dead end terminals" if needs be, because the conductor was available to assist the driver in reversing manoeuvres.
Sadly after a period of sustained driver shortages had begun to impact on the services - Reading being a town with low rate of unemployment - it was announced in May 1998 Mainline was to merge with Reading Buses, although Routemaster operation would still be continued for some time. That time came and during the summer of 2000 the Routemasters disappeared from Reading streets - the vehicles having already been advertised for sale. On 22nd July, on the sixth anniversary of the start-up, it was all over.
Mike Russell said that he would write a book to tell more of the story one day ..................
Map of Reading Mainline routes as at July 1998
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Line A waiting to depart from Turnhams Farm terminus
for Whitley Wood during the first week of operations in July 1994.
The advertising panel has yet to be fitted on the offside !
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Line F passes through the town centre
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Buses waiting for relief crews at St Marys Butts
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Thanks to Robert Williams for the two photographs of RMs in service.
